


Since You've Been Gone

by southsidestyle



Series: riverdale bingo: summer 2020 [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst and Romance, Bughead and Choni to Start, Canon Compliant, Emotional Infidelity, Eventual Smut, F/M, Infidelity, Love Confessions, Making Love, Pining, Truth or Dare, Unprotected Sex, With Allusions to Barchie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-30
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:46:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26197342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/southsidestyle/pseuds/southsidestyle
Summary: When she heard Jughead was dead, all Toni could think about was what theyused tohave, what theyalmosthad, and everything theycould’vehad. And as much as she hoped it would, none of that stopped when she learned that the news of his death had been greatly exaggerated,So no, Toni isn’t really looking forward to spending what’s supposed to be the most romantic night of her high school career with her girlfriend, not when she’s secretly pining over a boy she missed her shot with years ago.
Relationships: Jughead Jones/Toni Topaz
Series: riverdale bingo: summer 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1902469
Comments: 19
Kudos: 71
Collections: Riverdale Bingo Summer 2020





	1. Prom Night

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm participating in Riverdale Bingo! I've done a bingo card previously, but it was one I organized myself, so this one is going to be a bit more of a challenge for me. This time around, more than half of the squares are tropes instead of kinks, so while I'm planning every fill I write to at least earn an M rating, a lot of them will also have some heavy plot involved to build up to it, and this is one of those stories.
> 
> As you can see, this first fic I'm posting will have five chapters, and each chapter will incorporate a different square. I hope you come along for the ride, even if you usually just read my stuff for the smut, because as the tags say, it'll come eventually, I promise.
> 
> -
> 
> [Riverdale Bingo, Summer 2020](https://southsidestyle.tumblr.com/bingo): Prom Night.

Toni’s never been the type of girl that gets excited for school dances, so you can imagine just how lacking her enthusiasm is for senior prom. 

She played her part and made a big show out of asking Cheryl to go with her, because that’s what everyone else was doing and she knew her girlfriend expected a promposal too, but it had been entirely out of obligation. 

(Not the asking, she wants to be clear, just the scale of it). 

Last year didn’t feel like this, as far as Toni can remember—like a night she was dreading—so she’s not really sure why this one feels so ominous. 

Maybe it’s because it’s the last high school milestone before graduation, or maybe it’s because of the fucked up tapes some new psycho is sending around town. 

Or, maybe it’s because of those weird feelings she’s been trying to ignore since Jughead’s fake death; those feelings for that boy in a beanie that Toni was sure she’d long buried and gotten over, that sneaked back up on her when she thought she’d lost him forever. 

Toni’s relationship with Jughead had been fraught last year to say the least, but they’d patched things up over the summer and gotten a little bit of their friendship back before he disappeared off to Stonewall and fell into another complicated murder plot.

She doesn’t remember feeling this way then, but when Cheryl told her that Jughead was dead, all Toni could think about was what she _used_ to have with him, what she _almost_ had with him, and everything she _could’ve_ had with him. 

And as much as she wanted it to, none of that stopped when she learned the news of his death had been greatly exaggerated; if anything, it only made those thoughts and feelings intensify. 

So no, Toni isn’t really looking forward to spending what’s supposed to be the most romantic night of her high school career with her girlfriend, not when she’s secretly pining over a boy she missed her shot with years ago. 

But again, she’s never been much of a school dance kinda girl anyway, so whatever.

\---

Cheryl obviously rents a limo and invites everyone to ride to prom with them; it's less out of the goodness of her heart, and more out of desperation to feel like everyone is really her friend, but regardless of the reason, Toni wishes she hadn’t. 

It’s bad enough feeling like a fraud everytime she kisses or even touches her girlfriend, but acting all happy and in love while the object of her secret desires is sitting a few feet away from her makes it even worse. 

She’s not pretending completely though, Toni tries to remind herself as Betty, Jughead, Archie and Veronica pile into the back of the limo; she’s not pretending to still love Cheryl, because she _does_ still love her, it’s the part where she’s also still in love with Jughead that she’s lying about. 

Something tells Toni that little distinction wouldn’t mean all that much to the redhead, though.

“I’ve never been in a limo before,” Archie shares with the group as he gets settled in his seat, his navy blue tux looking a little too fancy for him, which means that Veronica clearly dressed him. 

“Me neither,” Jughead echoes, looking a bit more at home with his less formal black outfit. Not to mention _hot_ , Toni tries not to notice, especially without his beanie. 

“To the surprise of nobody,” Cheryl quips, but it’s obviously light-hearted so nobody takes it personally. “But nothing but the finest for my dear chums on the most important night of our lives.”

Jughead snorts derisively at Cheryl lauding a stupid dance, reminding Toni just how similar they are. “You _would_ think that,” he retorts, but he says it with a smile, so all it takes is a calming hand on Cheryl’s thigh to stop her from replying back.

“Thanks for sharing with us, Cheryl,” Betty adds with a smile of her own, her long shimmery blue dress carefully bunched up around her knees. “It’s good that we’re all spending tonight together.”

“Hear, hear, B,” Veronica chimes in from beside Archie, reaching for the bar like she’s at La Bonne Nuit and pulling out some sparkling cider. “I’d say that calls for a toast. Archiekins?” 

The red haired boy nods and quickly passes the glasses out to everyone, and waits until Veronica has poured cider into everyone’s cups before he starts; “It’s been a really rough few years, but I don’t think we could have gotten through any of it without each other. I know I couldn’t have. I, uh, I love you guys, and even though there’s been some ups and downs, I wouldn’t want to experience tonight with anyone else.”

He spends the whole speech stealing glances in Betty’s direction, which Toni only sees because she’s looking more at Jughead than she is at Cheryl, but nobody else seems to notice as they all clink their glasses together. 

“I love you,” Cheryl whispers in her ear as she pulls her closer, and Toni could swear she can feel the happiness radiating off of her. 

It makes her stomach twist, but she hides it well. “Love you too,” she tells her girlfriend honestly, tearing her eyes away from Jughead long enough to receive the small peck Cheryl presses to her lips.

\---

They pick up Kevin, Fangs and Reggie on the way, and make it to prom right on time—which, according to Cheryl, is thirty minutes late. 

The gym is all decked out thanks to the prom committee, the decorations for the Starry Night theme a far cry from last year's medieval décor. 

“I’m _obsessed_ ,” Kevin declares with wide eyes, giving the redhead’s arm a squeeze before Fangs is pulling him away from the group and towards the photo booth. 

“Yeah, great job, Cheryl,” Archie agrees kindly, then reluctantly follows Veronica onto the dance floor where they immediately get lost in the crowd. 

Reggie has already wandered off to find some poor unsuspecting girl to hit on, which leaves Toni alone with her girlfriend, the boy she’s secretly in love with, and said boy’s girlfriend. 

It’s awkward to say the least, but probably only to her, and she tries really hard not to think about how comfortably and possessively Jughead’s hand curls around Betty’s waist, or how she wishes it was around hers instead.

“Well, you two enjoy your night,” Cheryl declares suddenly—or probably not that suddenly, to anyone actually paying attention. “My Toni and I must go make our rounds while voting is still open. Au revoir! ”

Toni’s led away from the other couple before she can register what Cheryl has said, but she’s glad for it when she only barely catches Betty leaning in for a kiss before she can fully look away.

\---

As many predicted, according to the poll Kevin was tasked to run (and the betting pool Reggie was also running on the side), Cheryl and Toni are crowned prom queens half way through the night.

The only crown Toni has ever dreamt of winning was a metaphorical one adorned with snakes, but she knows this was a big deal to Cheryl, so when their names are called, the smile that lights up her face is genuine. 

It doesn’t do much to alleviate the guilt that still eats her up when her eyes look for Jughead in the crowd as she and Cheryl take the stage to be crowned, but she doubts anything ever could. 

“We did it, my love,” her girlfriend beams at her and Toni can see tears welling in her eyes—tears of happiness, for maybe the first time in the other girl’s life.

“It was all you, babe,” Toni insists, pressing a kiss to Cheryl’s cheek before leading her down the steps of the stage and towards the middle of the dance floor.

All the fairy lights hanging from the gym ceiling twinkle as the couple takes their place in the spotlight, and as Archie starts strumming the opening guitar chords to the original song he’s playing for their dance, Toni pulls Cheryl close to her and starts swaying to the melody.

As everyone’s eyes are on them, for the first time in weeks, Toni’s thinking of nobody else but the girl in her arms. 

It’s a quiet, beautiful moment that feels like it’s just between them, despite all their classmates surrounding them, and it’s a welcome momentary relief from all the conflicting feelings Toni’s been battling lately.

“Oh, TT,” Cheryl sighs dreamily, speaking just loud enough for Toni to hear over Archie’s singing. “This has been the most wonderful night, and it hasn’t even ended yet.”

If nothing else, Toni’s glad she could give Cheryl this; with everything going on, it’s the least she can do for her.

“So it’s everything you wanted it to be?” she asks hopefully.

“And so much more,” the redhead vows, carefully leaning her head down to press her forehead against Toni’s

Their matching crowns clink together, but they don’t fall.

\---

As much as Toni had been hoping that recaptured magic she felt while they danced would stay with her when it was done, as soon as the final notes of Archie’s song faded through the gym and was replaced by booming applause, the spell was broken and everything went back to her new normal.

Actually, it gets even worse—like how a pool is even colder after you’ve been in the hot tub—because not even ten minutes later, Toni finds herself sitting at a table alone when Jughead approaches her with a friendly smile.

“Where’s the Queen?” he wonders once he’s standing in front of her, shoving his hands in his pockets and looking around the area.

Toni tries to fight the smile just being in the boy’s presence naturally brings her, but it’s no use. “Addressing her subjects.”

Jughead’s gaze moves to the direction Toni had nodded in, and he finds Cheryl surrounded by a bunch of Vixens in fancy dresses, talking animatedly to them as they hang on her every word like the good little minions they are. 

“Of course,” he laughs, moving closer. 

The pinkette swallows and works up the nerve to ask, “What about Betty?”

“Off with Veronica somewhere,” Jughead answers with a shrug, clearly not knowing much more than that, or all that worried. “Archie must have done something stupid—if you can believe it—because she ran out half way through his song and Betty chased after her.”

Toni nods, keeping her thoughts about _that_ to herself. If Cheryl’s speculations about the whole Betty-Archie drama fest are even close to right, Toni’s not really in a position to be ratting either of them out to Jughead; she doesn’t need that bad karma.

So all she does is roll her eyes and jokingly say, “Aw, the song wasn’t _that_ bad.”

It gets an adorable little laugh out of Jughead, which makes Toni’s face flush with adoration, and she’s so busy trying to hide her uncontrollable grin that she misses the hand he offers her.

“Since our girls are busy, you think you could settle for a dance with an old friend?” 

Toni’s head snaps up at the casual question, and she finds kind, sweet eyes looking down at her hopefully, and how can she say no to that? She’s only human.

“Sure,” she chokes out, slipping her hand into his and letting him pull her to her feet.

\---

There’s a slow song playing, but Toni couldn’t tell you what it is if she tried, because just like with Cheryl, she can focus on nothing else but the person wrapped in her arms.

Except this time, she’s not dating them, and there are butterflies in her stomach that weren’t there before.

“Did you ever imagine we’d end up here?” Jughead asks her gently. The easy smile on his face as he looks down at her lets Toni know that she must be the only one feeling this way. 

“Dancing together at senior prom?” she barely manages to respond steadily, and can only hope she’s not as obvious as she feels. 

The boy laughs, making his smile grow, and the butterflies go wild.

“Dancing together at senior prom at Riverdale High,” he expands, jet black hair framing his perfect face perfectly. Toni wants to run her fingers through it so badly. “I wonder what prom at South Side High would have even looked like.”

“Nothing like this,” Toni’s sure, trying to picture it herself. “Someone definitely would have been stabbed by now.”

There goes that perfect smile getting bigger. “Oh, of sure.” They share another laugh, swaying in each other’s arms, and Toni’s never wanted to kiss him more. “I’m really glad we’re here together, Topaz,” Jughead tells her warmly. “I’ve missed you.”

It’s basically the same sentiment that the group shared in the limo hours ago, but it feels more personal and intimate now, because Toni knows he just means her.

“Me too, Juggie,” she breathes out, her heart hurting at just how much she means it. 

But if Jughead picks up on it, he doesn’t show it. He just pulls Toni impossibly closer against him, so she can press her ear to his chest and listen to the way she makes _his_ heart beat.

And even though it’s steady, Toni knows in that moment—with such painful clarity—that these feelings she has for Jughead aren’t going away any time soon.


	2. Truth or Dare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back with another chapter, this time for the Truth or Dare square. What could possibly go wrong playing this game while harbouring a giant secret? Hope you guys are liking this so far, I'm excited to get the last three parts out to you soon.
> 
> -
> 
> [Riverdale Bingo, Summer 2020](https://southsidestyle.tumblr.com/bingo): Truth or Dare.

Whatever drama went down with Veronica and Archie at prom seems to be semi-squashed by the end of it, because Veronica still hosts the after party at her family’s lodge just as planned. 

What was originally proposed to be a big blow out for their whole class eventually ends up being a more intimate celebration for their inner circle, as Cheryl likes to call them. The plan is to stay the weekend, so everyone has changed out of their prom outfits and into more casual clothes, but as Toni sits back and observes the obvious tension between certain members of the group, she’s not so sure everyone is going to last that long. 

Especially not when her girlfriend, oblivious to the tension—or maybe _because_ of it, it’s hard to tell with her sometimes—suggests they all play a game after everyone’s a couple rounds of alcohol in.

“I don’t know,” Archie is the first to reply, casting a nervous eye at both Betty and Veronica on either side of him. “We don’t really have the best history of party games.”

“Especially not ones you’re in charge of,” Veronica adds with an accusatory edge in her voice and a glare sent in Cheryl’s direction. 

Toni’s heard the Seven Minutes In Heaven story before, but something is telling her that’s not the only time one of Cheryl’s games has gotten out of control. 

“We’re all friends now, Veronica,” the redhead brushes off, and though she understands why nobody else buys it, Toni knows the other girl well enough to see that while she might be a bit mischievous, her intentions right now aren’t maliciuos. “I’ll even let you all choose the game.”

While the others exchange looks of uncertainty, Kevin voices his support before Toni has to. “I’m in,” he declares, moving from the table he was sitting at and towards the couches where everyone else is gathered. Fangs trails behind him like a puppy. “What does everyone say to a good old fashioned game of True or Dare?”

“I think that sounds like a splendid idea, Kevin,” Cheryl beams, clearly pleased. She turns to her right to get a third. “TT?”

Toni risks a glance at Jughead, but can’t gauge his reaction, so she just says what’s expected of her. “Sure, babe.”

If anyone else has further objections, they don’t voice them. Instead, everyone just settles down around the room with their drinks and lets Cheryl start them off. 

“Veronica,” she begins, a coy smile playing on her lips. “Truth or dare?”

The raven haired girl looks annoyed to be the first to be picked on, but otherwise doesn’t flinch. “Truth.”

Her answer is met with some playful booing, but Cheryl herself doesn’t look that disappointed. “Well, I’m dying to know: was that showdown in the lounge _really_ just all for show?”

Everyone knows exactly what Cheryl is talking out, and it’s like the question sucks some of the air out of the room, because they all want to know too.

But as curious as she is, Toni can’t help but feel some sympathy for Betty and Archie as they shift uncomfortably in their spots, because well, she gets it. She’s just lucky that her feelings for Jughead aren’t public knowledge like their past is.

Though, suddenly, Toni starts to wonder if participating in Truth or Dare is all that wise, considering what she’s hiding.

“Of course it was,” Veronica eventually answers. “I was simply selling the part of the scorned girlfriend and best friend. I know Betty and Archie would never actually do that to me.”

Toni gives her props for sounding fairly convincing, but it’s obvious that nobody is buying it after her dramatic exit earlier at prom, least of all Cheryl.

But luckily for them all, Cheryl isn’t in the mood for chaos tonight, and she accepts Veronica’s transparent answer, and allows her to move the game along by asking someone else. 

Veronica asks Kevin if he’s had a crush on any of his straight guy friends (he has, Archie), Kevin asks Fangs if he and Sweet Pea have ever hooked up (they haven’t, but they have had a threesome with a girl before; no, not Toni, he assures them when they all assume), and Fangs asks Reggie how many girls he’s hooked up with (nine, apparently). 

Despite Toni’s confidence that nobody knows about her feelings, and thus surely can’t use the game to expose them, she still waits with bated breath before someone new is called upon, dreading her turn, but it still hasn’t come yet. 

The first person brave enough to pick dare is Archie, and that’s probably only because for him, truth is the riskier choice. 

Or at least it would have been, if Reggie wasn’t an oblivious meathead. 

“I dare you to kiss the hottest girl in the room,” he says with a shit eating grin. “Besides Ronnie,” he makes sure to add as he takes a chug from his cup.

The tension from earlier is back and thicker than ever, and Toni does not envy Archie’s position at all. He looks like a deer caught in headlights, knowing everyone in the room knows who he has to kiss if he plans on being truthful, but still scared to do it. 

Toni only glances at Betty quickly before her eyes fall on Jughead beside the blonde, curiously watching his reaction to the whole thing. 

As much as Toni thinks she might know what’s going on between the four of them, she wonders how much _Jughead_ knows. Or how much he’s willing to _admit_ he knows anyways; that boy has a history of being in denial when it comes to Betty.

He doesn’t look pleased, which she supposes means he at least isn’t blind enough to not know his girlfriend is the person Archie is about to kiss, but he doesn’t look as bothered as Veronica does, so he must not be as aware as he should be. 

Toni’s still watching him when Archie eventually works up the courage to kiss Betty, and her eyes don’t leave him until the red haired boy has pulled away and is back in his spot, cheeks a little more colored than they were before. 

“Knew it,” Reggie laughs, completely unaware of the drama and turmoil he just intensified, even as Veronica glares daggers as her boyfriend and best friend. So much for that trusting act she was trying to pull.

“Very interesting indeed,” Cheryl comments from beside Toni, and the pinkette wishes she wouldn’t. If she knew what was going on in her own girlfriend’s head, she wouldn’t be enjoying this as much as she is. “Okay, Archiekins, let’s move it along.”

“Toni,” Archie calls out quickly. “Truth or dare?"

Not sure which is safer, but not wanting to hesitate too obviously, Toni replies with the first answer that comes to mind without overthinking it; “Dare.”

“S-same thing,” Archie tells her, clearly trying to take the heat off himself before his cheeks get any pinker. “Kiss the person in the room you’re most attracted to.”

Toni tenses immediately, but tries to play it cool when she remembers how Archie’s obvious hesitation and awkwardness made his choice to kiss Betty that much more damning. 

If she doesn’t want Cheryl to get suspicious, she can’t think about this too hard and she has to act casual. So even though her head is spinning, Toni just throws caution to the wind, gets on her knees, and leans over to pull Jughead into a kiss.

As soon as his lips connect with hers, Toni’s transported back to the night of his initiation, when they first kissed and it ignited too many things not to scare her the next morning. Except now, everything she felt that night is multiplied, even though this kiss is much tamer. 

Toni’s lips are still tingling as she pulls away, and she’s surprised to feel the heat of everyone’s gazes burning a hole through her when she gets back to her seat. 

“Damn, Topaz,” Reggie laughs, shaking his head in disbelief.

“What?” she tries to play it off, wiping at her mouth. She looks to her side and finds Cheryl glaring at her. “Babe, it’s just a game, you can’t really be mad that I kissed Jughead.”

She immediately feels shitty for saying it, because that kiss was definitely more than a game to her, but this isn’t where this is going to happen. In fact, it’s never happening at all.

“Oh, I’m not,” Cheryl scoffs. “I’m mad that you’re apparently more attracted to _Jughead_ than you are to your own _girlfriend._ ”

Toni starts to argue that it’s ‘other than’, not ‘more than’, but then she replays Archie’s dare in her head and realizes he never tacked on the same significant other amendment that Reggie did; she just showed her cards for no reason.

“I-I thought, I thought he said…” Yeah, there’s not much Toni can say right now, in front of all their friends, to make this any easier for Cheryl to swallow, so all she says is, “I’m sorry, baby.”

But Cheryl’s not interested and Toni can’t blame her, and fuck Archie Andrews for this; if the thought didn’t squeeze her heart so much, she’d wish for Jughead and Betty to stay together forever just to spite that little ginger coward. 

“Well, uh, Toni, it’s your turn now,” Kevin’s voice cuts through the tension and awkwardness that he’s probably eating up. 

“Right,” the pinkette sighs, trying to shake it off. Her eyes scan the circle and land on the girl sitting beside Archie. “Betty, truth or dare?”

Betty picks truth and Toni asks her some lame question about her first kiss—unlike Archie, she doesn’t feel the need to take anyone else down with her—but she has trouble listening to the answer or paying attention to anything else that happens after that. 

All Toni can think about for the rest of the game is her kiss with Jughead, and the fact that her answer still would’ve been the same even if she _had_ heard Archie’s dare correctly. 

She would’ve lied and kissed Cheryl, of course, but she can’t continue to deny the truth to herself; Toni’s feelings for Jughead aren’t just in addition to her feelings for Cheryl anymore, they’re stronger. 


	3. Drunk Confession

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter written and square filled. I have a couple others written but I'm thinking I'll save those for posting during kink week, so I might end up finishing this story before I post any other bingo fills. Anyways, this chapter picks up the same night as the last two, and is from Jughead's POV this time. 
> 
> -
> 
> [Riverdale Bingo, Summer 2020](https://southsidestyle.tumblr.com/bingo): Drunk Confession.

There was once a time in his life that Jughead would swear he knew Toni better than anyone.

Sweet Pea and Fangs might have known her longer, but they’re not really the kind of guys that pay much attention to details. Jughead, though, always paid attention to Toni; to her likes and dislikes, her interests and ideas, and most importantly, to her mood.

Jughead used to be able to tell instantly if something was bothering his friend, and while he might not have picked up on it as quickly as he once would have, back when they were closer friends, he does eventually notice that something is wrong with her. 

It just took her kissing him to really notice it.

\---

“Have you guys seen Toni anywhere?” he asks Kevin and Fangs a little while after the game of Truth or Dare finally ends. 

He thinks it’s been about an hour, but Jughead hasn’t seen the pink haired girl since she hightailed it out of the room the second the game was deemed over.

“Sorry, Jones,” Fangs answers with a shrug, not even looking up at his former leader as he does—he’s got his heart eyes firmly on his kind of boyfriend sitting in his lap. “Haven’t seen her.”

“I wonder why,” Jughead snorts, shifting his eyes to Kevin, who seems to actually give it some thought as he sips from his red plastic cup.

Kevin’s tipsy gaze searches the large cabin’s main floor, as if looking for her where Jughead has obviously already looked, before he eventually finds the inquiring boy again. “Nope, don’t see her.”

Jughead would be annoyed, but Kevin’s got this dopey smile on his face to match the one Fangs is sending him, and he can’t be—at least one couple is happy tonight.

“Thanks, guys,” he tells them, sarcastically but also lightly, before he leaves them alone in their little love bubble to continue his search.

\---

He doesn’t find Toni, but he does find the next best thing: Toni’s girlfriend.

Cheryl and Veronica are sitting huddled together in the corner of the room, talking closely and so intimately that Jughead hesitates to interrupt them, especially to ask about Toni.

There was obvious tension between the girls after Toni kissed him during Truth or Dare, and even though Jughead thinks Cheryl was overreacting, that doesn’t mean he has any desire to be on the receiving end of her dramatics. 

But his desire to find and check up on Toni is too great for him to ignore, so he risks it.

“Hey,” he greets them warily, flinching a little when both girls immediately whip their heads around to glare at him. “Sorry to interrupt this little pow wow, but uh, I was wondering if either of you know where Toni wandered off to?”

Cheryl’s jaw immediately clenches and her nostrils flare, but Veronica manages to tame the beast with a hand on her arm before she can blow a gasket at his self aware audacity. 

“No, I have not seen my treacherous girlfriend,” the redhead eventually snaps harshly, and it’s suddenly obvious to him why Toni might be hiding. “But I’ll be sure to tell her that her little boyfriend was searching for her whereabouts; I’m sure she’ll be very touched by your concern.”

“Come on, Cheryl,” he sighs against his better judgement. “Cut her some slack, it was just a misunderstanding. You know Toni only has eyes for you.”

For reasons he’ll never understand, he thinks with an internal eye roll, but doesn’t dare say.

But it seems he doesn’t have to say it to further piss Cheryl off. “Oh, believe me, I am well aware,” she swears. “If you think I’m threatened by some scrawny hobo the likes of you, you’re sorely mistaken. I just didn’t appreciate having to watch _my_ girlfriend stick her tongue down _your_ throat.”

“There was no tongue," he reminds her flatly.

“As if that makes it any less disgusting,” Cheryl scoffs. 

Jughead rolls his eyes outwardly this time and shares an exasperated look with Veronica. Why did he ever think this was a good idea?

He decides it’s best to simply stop interacting with her, and instead address the girl at her side. “Veronica, have _you_ seen her?”

“I think she went out back when the game was done,” the raven haired girl offers him helpfully, even though it earns her Cheryl’s ire. 

“Thank you,” Jughead sighs, relieved as much to leave Cheryl’s presence as he is to have somewhere to start looking. 

\---

As Jughead wanders the obnoxiously large property of Lodge Lodge, he tries not to think too hard about the fact that Toni isn’t the only member of their group unaccounted for.

He hasn’t seen Archie or Betty in about as long as he hasn’t seen the pinkette, but wherever they are and whatever they’re doing, he’s sure he’d rather not know, so he’s focusing his attention on Toni instead. 

Something tells him whatever answer he gets from her will be easier for him to deal with than whatever his best friend and girlfriend have to tell him.

He’ll realize soon just how wrong he is, because nothing in his life is ever easy.

\---

It takes him more than ten minutes of searching, but eventually, Jughead finds Toni sitting out by the hot tub.

She’s sitting on the edge, her feet dangling in the warm water, staring down into the red cup in her hand; there’s an almost empty bottle of Tequila by her side. 

“There you are,” Jughead greets her gently, knowing she can go either way when she’s drunk. Sometimes she’s happy, sometimes she’s weepy, and sometimes she’s even horny—that last one is just what he’s heard through the grapevine, though. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Toni’s reaction is a bit delayed thanks to the alcohol, but her eyes are wide and full of surprise at his words, and they follow him as he carefully sits down on her other side.

“You were looking for me?” she questions in child-like awe. He nods. “ _Why?_ ”

Jughead raises an eyebrow, not sure why she’s so shocked—or touched?—by that. 

Have they really been so disconnected from each other lately that she’s surprised he’d care to look for her?

He knows things were really bad last year after the ousting debacle that he still regrets, but he thought they’d bounced back from that over the summer. Then again, it’s not like they’ve really hung out much this year, what with going to different schools and faking deaths and everything.

“Because I wanted to hang out,” he tells her sincerely, even though it’s only half of the truth. “And I was worried about you.”

Toni hiccups as she barks out a sharp laugh. “Why’re you worried about lil’ ol’ _me_?”

“Because you ran off as soon as we were finished.” And snatched a bottle of Tequila on the way, evidently. “You’re that scared of Cheryl, huh?” 

He’s only joking—he even bumps their shoulders when he says it so she knows—but it doesn’t stop Toni’s face from falling in response. 

“She’s gonna hate me!” she suddenly cries, shaking her head. 

Jughead’s brows knit together in confusion—at her words and her reaction—and he bites back a laugh at the girl’s theatrics. 

Weepy drunk it is. 

“It was just a game,” he reminds her, stretching an arm out to wrap around her shoulders. “I know Cheryl’s not the most rational person, but I’m sure she’ll be over it in the morning.”

He knows Toni isn’t the most rational person right now either, so he didn’t expect his reassurance to be all that comforting, but he didn’t think it would just make her cry even harder either. 

“Not about the game,” Toni sobs, words more than just slurred now. “It’s not just the game.”

“She can’t be mad that you think I’m hot,” he tries to joke again, or at least keep the mood light. He’s been trying to avoid thinking about how that little revelation made him feel since it happened and he’s not about to stop now. “That’d be pretty hypocritical; we all see the way she looks at Veronica.”

But Toni’s still not having it. “ _No_ ,” she insists through her tears, shaking her head even harder. “You don’t get it! Don’t you _get_ it?!”

Jughead wishes he did, because she looks so upset and he just wants to help her in any way that he can—after everything she’s done for him, it’s the least he can do—but he really has no clue.

“Toni…” he tries, saying her name imploringly, hoping for some help.

“It’s not about the game,” Toni insists again all pathetically, sniffling and wiping at her nose as she calms down some, until she just seems more dejected than anything else. “Why would she be mad about a stupid kiss in a stupid game when she should be mad that I’m in love with you?”

Jughead stills at her casual confession, his arm slack around her shoulders and his wide eyes a mirror of Toni’s from when he first arrived.

“W-what?” he stutters out, sure he must have heard that wrong. “Toni...”

“Oh, _Juggie_ ,” she sighs, ignoring his reaction and the severity of her own confession as her body slumps into his in her exhaustion and defeat. “What am I supposed to do now? I love Cheryl, but you…” She doesn’t finish the thought, which is extremely frustrating, considering Jughead is hanging on her every word. “Why did you have to die and make me miss you so much?” Toni pauses, then looks up at him with glassy, begging eyes. “What happened to us?”

For the first time in his life, Jughead really doesn’t know what to say. 

What _can_ he say after his closest girl friend—who has a girlfriend of her own—just drunkenly confessed to being in love with him on their prom night?

“I—I don’t…” He’s really got nothing, and Toni being so close and looking at him like that certainly isn’t helping. “Toni, I—”

But before Jughead can struggle any longer, the sounds of laughter and footsteps burst their bubble and pull them apart.

“Hey, you found her!” Fangs cheers when he spots them from further up the path. He’s missing a shirt, got a towel over his shoulder and Kevin’s hand in his. “Jones was looking all over for you, Tiny.”

The interruption seems to sober Toni up immediately, as she scrambles out from under Jughead’s arm and puts a good few feet of space between them. 

“I, yeah, I, I found her,” Jughead manages to spit out, risking a discreet glance in Toni’s direction before looking back up at the newest arrivals. “Are you guys getting in?”

“Yeah, Veronica told us how to turn it on,” the other Serpent answers as he bends down to fiddle with the control panel the girl must have told him about.

“You two want to join us?” Kevin offers while Fangs gets everything set up, seemingly oblivious to the moment they just stumbled upon.

Before Jughead can decline the invitation, Toni is doing it herself. “No, I-I gotta go,” she mumbles, clumsily getting to her feet and stumbling towards the path. 

“Toni!” Jughead calls after her, not even sure what he would say if she listened.

“Don’t, Jug,” she cuts him off, very aware of their current company, and apparently, now, the beans she spilled to him. “This was—Just forget it, okay? _Please._ Just… forget I said anything.”

She doesn’t wait for Jughead to agree before she’s running away again, but it’s a good thing, because he’s not sure he would have.

How the hell is Jughead just supposed to forget that Toni’s in love with him?


	4. Making Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the square for this chapter is a big spoiler, so I guess I should have thought it through before naming each chapter after the square, but oh well, now you know! Only one more chapter after this, which spoiler alert again, is the Morning After square, where everything will be discussed. Hope you guys like this chapter, even though the smut is a lot less... vulgar, for lack of a better word, than usual. 
> 
> -
> 
> [Riverdale Bingo, Summer 2020](https://southsidestyle.tumblr.com/bingo): Making Love.

It’s been a week since prom, and Jughead hasn’t spoken to Toni since she drunkenly confessed to being in love with him that night.

She’s been avoiding him and he hasn’t tried to approach her, and as demonstrated by the past year, it’s depressingly easy for the two of them not to cross paths, despite going to the same school and having the same friends. 

It’s for the best though, because even with a week to think about it, Jughead’s still not sure what he would even say to her.

What can he say?

He has a girlfriend. Hell, _Toni_ has a girlfriend. 

There’s only a month left of school, and then after the summer, they’re both going to different colleges. 

So even if he _did_ feel the same way, it’s not like they could realistically do anything about those feelings anyways. 

Right?

\---

Jughead was attracted to Toni from the second he laid eyes on her—he was a red blooded, straight, teenage boy after all, _of course_ he was—but it wasn’t until he’d talked to her a few times that his crush really developed. 

She was such a cool girl and they had so much in common and she was so obviously flirting with him, but he had Betty, so he never acted on it.

At least not until she abruptly broke up with him, and even then, it was just the once, because that’s all Toni let it be.

He wasn’t over Betty, she’d said, and she wasn’t interested in being anyone’s rebound. It was fair and she wasn’t wrong, so Jughead let her and his crush go after that.

Or at least he thought he did.

When he thinks back on it now, after finding out that Toni never had, maybe he didn’t really either.

Letting feelings go isn’t the same as burying them, and the more Jughead thinks about it, the more he thinks that’s all he did—bury them, just like it seems Toni did.

As complicated as this makes things, as a writer, Jughead has to appreciate the irony of it a little bit—that all this has gotten dug up just because Toni thought he had been buried too.

\---

The thing about triangles is that there are three points; there’s how he feels, how Toni feels, and then there’s Betty. 

(There’s Cheryl too, because technically it’s a square, but Jughead would be lying if he said he cared all that much about her feelings in this situation, and she knows the redhead would say the same about him if she were in his position, so he doesn’t feel bad about it).

But the thing about Betty is that she’s not standing at her point of the triangle alone—Archie is right there with her. 

It’s taken Jughead this long to really admit it to himself, but he’s known for a while that he’s already been involved in a triangle of sorts, for years, if he’s really being honest. 

(There’s Veronica too, because technically that one is also a square, but, well, you know how the rest of that goes).

Jughead isn’t sure exactly what’s going on between Betty and Archie, and he’s starting to think he doesn’t really care. Things have been off between him and Betty since his fake death, and whether it’s because of Archie or Betty or himself, it doesn’t change the facts.

It’s probably not unfixable, if they’re both willing to work on it, but it seems obvious by Betty’s recent behavior that she’s not, and the fact that he hasn’t tried tells him that he’s not really either. 

He’s talked to Betty maybe a handful more times than he’s talked to Toni since prom night, and they _live_ together. 

What’s more telling than that is that it’s taken Jughead this long to really notice, when he’s felt every second of Toni’s avoidance deep in his gut.

\---

“What’s on your mind, boy?” his dad asks one night when they have the house to themselves, which is happening more and more these days as Alice helps Betty get ready for her move to Yale. 

She’s leaving at the beginning of summer instead of the end of it, because she wants to get settled in and because she’s already found a job there and probably because she wants to get away from him sooner. 

“Nothing,” Jughead answers instinctively, just used to keeping his thoughts and feelings close to his vest. But when he looks over at his dad and sees the concern in his eyes, something inside him urges him to open up to the old man; he won’t be around to listen for much longer. “Actually, maybe I could use some advice.”

Touched as always at his son’s show of trust, FP moves around the couch to sit beside the boy and give him his full attention. “Hit me with it,” he encourages him, smacking his knee lightly. “I might not know much about college, but I’ve been around the block a few times.”

“It’s not about school,” Jughead assures him, closing the book he’d been trying to read and tossing it onto the coffee table. “It’s actually a girl problem.”

“Something going on with you and Betty?” FP is clearly surprised, having not picked up on anything, despite living in the same house as both of them. “This about her leaving so soon?”

Jughead shakes his head, even though it’s not _not_ about Betty. “It’s about Toni.”

“Topaz?” FP clarifies, as if there’s another one. “So it’s Serpent business?”

“No, it’s…” Jughead hardly ever struggles with words, being a writer and all, but as he sits here in front of his father, trying to explain everything that’s been going on in his head since the night of prom, he can’t find any of them. “Nevermind, dad.”

It’s probably for the best, he doubts Toni would want him blabbing to anyone else about how she feels, even if it’s just his father. 

FP’s visibly disappointed, but he thankfully doesn’t push. 

Instead, he just places a firm hand on Jughead’s shoulder and looks him in the eyes as he reminds him, “Whatever’s going on, I know you’ll do the right thing for you.” He grins and lightly smacks Jughead in the chest with his other hand. “Just follow whatever your heart tells you, you got a damn good one, Jug.”

The advice ends up being helpful, no matter how cliche it is. 

\---

Jughead sends Toni a text later, asking if she’ll meet him in the bunker the following the night to talk.

The reply he gets a short and swift, a simple yes and a time that’s good for her. 

He’s immediately relieved and then only a little anxious, and spends the rest of the night pacing the length of the living room, figuring out exactly what he wants to say to Toni tomorrow. 

He eventually passes out on the couch, opting to let Betty have their bed to herself.

\---

Jughead doesn’t ask Toni to meet him in the bunker with a plan to sleep with her, that kinda just happens.

It’s just that he lives with Betty and she lives with Cheryl, and any neutral place in public like school or Pop’s was just begging for interruptions, and the bunker seemed like the best place to get some privacy. 

But he’d failed to consider the fact that that privacy would come with high emotions and a bed that somehow produced more fornication than one at the Shady Palm Motel. 

He had gotten there first and practiced everything he wanted to say to Toni when she got there. 

And then she did, and everything went out the window as soon as he saw her. 

Having finally sorted out his feelings, it was like that first day all over again. Except this time, he knew her inside and out, so she was even more beautiful to him now than she had been before. 

So he kissed her, and she kissed him back, and they didn’t even say anything to each other before they started shedding plaid clothing and falling into bed. 

They didn’t talk about it—the confession, the week of silence that followed, their feelings or the sex they’re about to have—but somehow they were on the same page regardless. 

Looks like they really are just as in sync as they’ve always been, no matter how much they’ve drifted, because this is exactly what happened last time, but they both know they’re not going to stop at second base tonight.

Not when he wants her so badly, not when his feelings for Betty aren’t holding him back anymore, and certainly not when her mouth feels so against his neck.

Jughead has only ever made love (or even had sex) with one girl, but he’s done more than enough of it that he shouldn’t be so nervous.

But it’s _Toni_ ; some part of him has been waiting to be with her like this for two years, how can he not be?

“Relax,” she mumbles into his skin before sinking her teeth in and then soothing it over with her tongue. “It’s just me, Juggie.”

He laughs sardonically after he finishes shivering. “That’s _why_ I’m so anxious,” he explains, pulling back enough so he can gaze down at Toni beneath him. He gently tucks some pink hair behind her ear. “Because it’s _you._ ”

Something flashes in Toni’s eyes, something he can barely make out in the low light of the bunker, but the smile that slowly grows on her lips seems entirely sincere, and the kiss she pulls him down into makes him breathless, so he’s guessing that whatever it was, it was something good.

She goes for the pants first, but it doesn’t feel like she’s making the first move, not when they’ve both already gone too far to go back now. 

Toni’s hand slips into Jughead’s boxers and finds his almost hard cock, and she strokes him idly while they continue to kiss, until she feels him stiffen completely against her palm.

“I didn’t bring a condom,” he admits when they pull apart enough to lose the rest of their clothes. 

“I don’t care,” she mumbles as she lays back down and pulls him back on top of her. “I just want you inside me, Jug.”

They’re both too smart to do something this irresponsible, Jughead thinks fleetingly, but then Toni’s hands are on his hips and he’s slipping inside of her, and the thought floats away just as quickly.

Sometimes heart leads over head and other times Jughead thinks with another body part entirely, but as he sinks into Toni and feels her wet warmth surround him so perfectly, he’d say this decision is a combination of all three.

He watches Toni’s face closely for any sign of discomfort while he holds his position, giving her a chance to get adjusted to a feeling she probably hasn’t felt in a long time. 

“You okay?” he asks to be sure, and when she bites her lip and nods eagerly, Jughead takes it as a sign to continue and starts pulling out. 

His eyes stay on her as he slides into her again—and again and again—and by the seventh or eighth time, Jughead decides the look on Toni’s face as his cock fills her is his new favorite thing.

He doesn’t have the words to do it justice right now, but he’s sure he’s going to write whole novels about it.

“ _Juggie_ ,” she pants, voice breathy and whiny, and fuck, she sounds perfect during sex too.

“You’re so beautiful, Toni,” Jughead says before he can stop himself, not that he would have; there’s no point in holding anything back right now. 

It sounds like a realization, but it’s more like a confession, because he doesn’t remember ever telling her that before. 

Toni doesn’t say anything back, just lifts her arms to slip through his so she can wrap them around his bare back and pull him down closer to her. Almost every part of them that can be touching is, and as he ruts his hips against hers slowly, pumping in and out of her, Jughead leans down to kiss her again to make sure it is.

They’re fully connected now, in the most intimate way possible, and while this isn’t how he would have imagined them having sex years ago, he can’t imagine it any other way now. 

Fast and hard and rough is hot, and it’s passionate, but this isn’t any less so. When Jughead was looking down into Toni’s eyes before, the only other thing he saw in them besides passion, was love.

And as they move together slowly, in a perfectly synchronized tandem, that’s what he feels too—passion, and love.

Jughead loses all sense of time while with Toni, he just feels her all around him instead, so he’s not sure how long their love making lasts before they reach their peak, but all that matters is that they do it together.

He knows Toni tightens around him first, gasping into his mouth as her orgasm catches her by surprise, but Jughead only lasts a few pumps more before he’s burying himself in deep and letting go, spilling sticky warmth into the girl beneath him with a sigh. 

They cling to one another as the shared pleasure rolls over them in waves, and they stay that way once it's passed too.

“I can’t believe that really just happened,” Toni laughs as Jughead carefully lays his weight on top of her and she continues to hold him tightly. 

Jughead smiles against the bare skin of her shoulder, kissing her there twice before lifting his head up so he can look at her.

“Believe it,” he tells her with a goofy grin—the biggest he’s sported in a long while. He presses a kiss to the underside of her jaw. “This wasn't what I was expecting to happen tonight either, but I don’t regret it. Do you?”

Toni’s own smile is soft and sweet as she shakes her head. “I’ve wanted this for so long,” she admits, curling her fingers into the back of his mussed up hair. “So much longer than even I realized.”

Jughead knows the feeling, but he’s too tired to have this conversation now, and judging by the cute little yawn Toni can’t seem to fight any longer, she is too.

“Sleep,” he suggests, finally pulling out of her so he can lay down beside her. She immediately shuffles closer and wraps her arms around him again, placing her head on his chest, over his still heavily beating heart. “We’ll talk about everything in the morning, okay?”

He’s not sure where Cheryl thinks Toni is tonight or if her not coming home will cause her trouble tomorrow, but if she’s not worried about it, either is he.

All Jughead cares about right now is the girl in his arms and the enormity of his feelings for her, that he’s still only just uncovering. 


	5. Morning After

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this one faster than I expected and since I'll have more bingo fills coming out soon for Kink Week, I figured there was no point in withholding it. So here's the last chapter! This is the first time I've really attempted to tell a story like this (with multiple chapters, most that feature no smut, and with a theme per chapter) so I hope it was cohesive and you liked it. Thanks for reading and for anyone that left feedback, it was appreciated. 
> 
> -
> 
> [Riverdale Bingo, Summer 2020](https://southsidestyle.tumblr.com/bingo): Morning After.

Toni wakes up first, thanks to her body growing used to Cheryl’s insanely early morning routine, but for the first time, she doesn’t mind. 

Her face immediately breaks out into a smile when she feels the hard body wrapped around her and the events of the previous night come rushing back. 

That really happened; she really had sex with Jughead. 

When she’d gotten his text, Toni thought for sure she was walking into a rejection, and the only reason she still went was in the hopes of getting the closure she needed to move on with her life with Cheryl.

But Jughead surprised her, just like he always seems to, and kissed her instead and the rest, as they say, is history. 

She never imagined they’d go this far though, not while they both still had girlfriends. In all of her many fantasies about this moment, they were both single. 

As Toni pulls away from Jughead a bit so that she can see his beautiful, perfect, sleeping face though, she doesn’t regret it at all. And when those magnetic green eyes flutter open and immediately find her brown ones, Jughead feels like he’s already hers anyways. 

“Morning,” Toni greets him softly, reaching out to push back tufts of jet black hair out of his face.

“Really early morning,” he jokes in a ridiculously sexy scratchy voice that has Toni ready for a round of sleepy morning sex. “You sleep okay? I know this bed probably isn’t as comfortable as the one back at Thistlehouse.”

The mention of the home she shares with Cheryl does a good job of quickly taming Toni’s libido, but she doesn’t let it dampen her good mood. “I slept amazingly,” she answers truthfully, because the dreams that usually haunt and please her in equal measure had finally come true. “Better than I have in a while.”

“Me too,” Jughead smiles back, hopefully thinking the same thing. It falters only a little when he eventually fills the lingering silence between them with, “So…”

Toni nods, sobering up just a little, but not enough to dim her own smile any. “So.”

“Do you wanna talk here or go get some pancakes at Pop’s?”

“As hungry as I am, I don’t think this is a conversation we want to risk being overheard,” Toni quickly reasons, even though the idea of a breakfast date is very appealing.

“Good point,” Jughead agrees, pulling the covers over their naked bodies a little tighter when he notices her shiver a little. “Here it is then.”

Part of Toni thinks she should be nervous or jagged enough to be expecting the rug to be pulled out from beneath her, but as she looks at the boy laying across from her, she isn’t, at least not fully; despite their ups and downs, she trusts him with her life, so she trusts him with her heart too.

Mostly.

“You start,” she still says though. “You already know how and when I figured out my feelings, and I’ve already poured my heart out to you about them, so I wanna know about you. What happened? What about Betty?”

She doesn’t doubt him, but it still seems too good to be true that Jughead would really choose her over Betty, especially after last time, when her worries about the blonde were confirmed when he immediately got back together with her after their PG-13 night together.

“Betty is…” Jughead shakes his head and he struggles with his words, or at least with how much he wants to share with her. “Things with Betty have been off for a while now and I’ve just been trying to ignore it because there was so much other stuff going on. But after prom night and what you said, I don’t know, it just made me think about everything I was feeling and finally face it.”

It makes a lot of sense to her, and again, Toni trusts him not to hurt her, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t unintentionally, so she has to be completely sure. 

“So this didn’t just happen because you’re upset about whatever’s going on with her and Archie?” she double checks, wanting both to make sure that Jughead knows about that, but also that it didn’t factor into what happened last night. 

Toni still refuses to be anyone’s rebound, even Jughead’s.

“ _No_ ,” Jughead says firmly, leaving no room for any more doubt, and pulls Toni closer to him. “I don’t even know what’s going on, I just know something is, and knowing that was enough to help me take Betty’s feelings out of the equation and just focus on how _I_ felt about it all. How I felt about _you._ ”

It’s exactly what Toni wanted to hear.

“And how _do_ you feel?” she asks with a coy smile, all traces of doubt or insecurity gone just like that.

“I love you too,” he answers simply and sweetly, pressing a kiss to her nose. “I think deep down, a part of me always did. I always hated seeing you with Cheryl, and I always chalked it up to just wanting better for you, when really, I just wanted you for myself.”

As nice as that admission is to hear, the mention of her girlfriend by name finally dampens Toni’s good mood enough to make her lose her smile.

“Cheryl,” she acknowledges morosely with a groan, rolling onto to back so she’s not facing Jughead anymore. “God, I don’t know what to do about her. I know I have to break up with her, because it’s not fair to any of us to keep stringing her along when my feelings have changed, but she’s not like with Betty; she didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Are you sure?” the boy beside her asks, brushing his thumb soothingly against her hip in silent support of her emotional turmoil, even though she knows he doesn’t really care for Cheryl or concern himself with her feelings. “Her and Veronica have been spending an awful lot of time together and they looked pretty close on prom night.”

Toni hates herself for the little laugh she lets out. “Wouldn’t that be convenient for all of us.”

“Pair the spares, a classic trope,” he muses lightly.

It’s a nice momentary reprieve, but it’s not long before the guilt comes creeping back in. She’s done such a good job pushing it aside since last night, but it was bound to catch up with her eventually.

If there’s one thing this whole ordeal has taught her, it’s that feelings don’t stay buried.

“I’m serious, Jug,” she whines, turning back over on her side to face him again. “She’s been through so much shit, and been let down by so many people, I hate that after all we went through together, that I’m just going to be added to that list.”

Finally sensing the gravity of her remorse, Jughead drops the jokes and brings his hand up to cup Toni’s cheek as he stares at her with a sad understanding in his eyes.

“Hey, Toni, if you’re having second thoughts-”

“ _I’m not_ ,” she’s quick to cut him off, not wanting him to have any doubts either. “I’m not, and I don’t regret what we did, I just regret that I’m going to have to hurt her like this, that I already have.”

Toni means it, she doesn’t regret telling Jughead how she feels or even having feelings for him at all, and not even cheating on Cheryl with him, but she does regret that any of it is going to cause the redhead any pain, because that’s the last thing she’d ever want.

She still loves her after all, in some way, just not like she loves Jughead.

“I get it,” he assures her, reminding her of one of the many reasons why she loves him; his empathy. “You’re just too nice for your own good, Topaz.”

Her heart aches as she wishes she could believe that right now. “Clearly not that nice.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it, shit happens.” Jughead tries to tell her, brushing strands of her hair behind her ear gently. “You can’t change how you feel. It’s not your fault that you’re in love with me.”

And despite everything, of course Toni has to smile at that. “Shut up.”

Making her smile seems to make Jughead smile, and suddenly, just like that, all of Toni’s worries and guilt just wash away, just for a little while. 

“So are we really gonna try this?” Jughead asks tentatively after a moment, his eyes searching hers for confirmation she’s on the same page as him still. “Being together?”

“I won’t be easy,” she warns and reminds herself. “But I want to more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”

“What about next year?” he countered, ever the planner, wanting to make sure they have all their bases covered. “I’m gonna be in Iowa.”

“I don’t know,” Toni answers honestly. She wants for the worries or doubts to come back at the turn in conversation and the scariness of such an unpredictable future, but they don’t. “I don’t even know if I wanna go to High Smith now; I was only going for Cheryl.”

Jughead perks up a bit at this news. “Where else did you get in?” he wonders. “Anywhere close to a certain Hawkeye State your new boyfriend is going to be living in, by any chance?”

Toni heart skips a beat at his question, or rather a very specific word in that question.

“Boyfriend,” she has to take a minute to appreciate. “I like the sound of that.” She feels her nose crinkle at how big she’s smiling, and it only gets bigger when she thinks about her answer to the rest of his question. “But yeah, actually. A couple.”

“Then I guess there’s hope for us yet,” Jughead deduces with his own grin, as he pulls Toni closer and rolls them over so that she’s laying on top of him when he kisses her.

And that’s exactly what the kiss is full of: hope.

**Author's Note:**

> Would very much appreciate it if you hit that kudos button or left a comment if you liked it. Thanks for reading!


End file.
